Apparatus for the sale and purchase of articles



July 17, 1934. W FE I 1,967,046

APPARATUS FOR THE SALE AND PURCHASE OF ARTICLES Filed March 17, 1933"INVENTOR WM 2 ATTORNEYS Patented July 17, 1934 PATENT Wigs;

APPARATUS FOR THE SALE AND PURCHASE OF ARTICLES Howard E. Wolfe,Harrison, N. Y. Application March 17, 1933, Serial No. 661,257

3 Claims.

I tainer which is simple and inexpensive of construction, inaccessibleto unauthorized persons, readily operable by authorized persons, andwhich will efficiently serve the purposes for which it is intended.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relationand order of one or more of such steps with respect to each of theothers, and the apparatus embodying features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangement of parts, all as exemplified inthe following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application ofwhich will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the inventionreference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in

- which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a token container embodying theinvention, and shows also a key by which the container may be operated;

Fig. 2'is a similar view with the front wall removed;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of'a portion of a form of key andkey-receiving means adapted foruse in operating the container;

Fig; 4 is a-longitudinal sectional view of a modified form of tokencontainer; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of another form of key andkey-receiving means which may be used in operating containers such ascontemplated bythe invention.

In the sale of articles of such character and under such conditions thatthe purchaserand the seller do not meet, it has always been aconsiderable problem to readily conduct such sales with any degree ofcertainty ofproper payment or indeed of proper delivery. An outstandingtype of such character of sales is-in the delivery of bottled milk fromhouse to. house- In such sale of milk the dealer must either give creditto his customers or seek. payment fromthem at inconvenient times,

which is a. cause of. considerable loss,.annoyance,

and difiiculty. In many instances, also the custcmer finds difiiculty inassuring that themilkman will leave the varying quantities of milk,cream, etc., needed on different dates. At times notes are lost, blownaway or obliterated by rain, or in some cases, ignored by the milkman,so that inadequate or excessive quantities of milk or cream are left byhim.

With the foregoing and other difficulties in mind, the present inventioncontemplates the provision of an improved method for the dispens ing ofarticles under the conditions in question and the provision of a tokencontainer of such construction that it is particularly adapted for suchuse. In this connection it is to be understood that the word token, asutilized in connection with the apparatus in question, is used in itsbroadsense to include coins, as Well as the usual metallic orcomposition tokens or other suitable pieces of material. g

In accordance with the invention the house-- holder or other purchaserinserts in a container tokens which are preferably of a value similar tothe price of an article desired, but which may be an even fractionthereof. These are so placed in the container as to be non-releasableexcept by o the use of a key possessed by the seller or his agent. Thetokens are released by the use of the key, and a supply of articles inaccordance with the number of tokens inserted is delivered to thepurchaser, as by leaving them on the porch of his home. If desired, avariety of tokens, each indicating different articles, may be utilized,so that the seller or his agent, upon releasing the tokens with his key,will know exactly what articles are desired without further information.i

In the drawing there is exemplified one form of a-token containerembodying the invention. This container comprises an enclosure 10 whichis exemplified as in the form of a box. The enclosure is formed with anupper token-receiving slot and a lower discharge opening, thesepreferably being in-the upper and lower walls of the box as exemplifiedat 11 and 12 respectively. Interior wall members 13 and 14, in thepresent instance, serve to provide the side walls of a token-holdingcompartment, the end walls being provided by the front and rear walls ofthe enclosure. The bottom of the compartment is provided by a releasablemember, which, in the present instance,.is aslidable plate 15. Frombeneath the compartment the tokens, when released, are guided to theopening 12 by means of a discharge passage formed by side-wall members16 and 17. The plate is normally held across the space between thecompartment and the discharge passage by means of a spring; and a stop,which may be the end wall of the container of the enclosure or acontinuation of the members 15 and 1'7 as indicated at 18, is providedto limit the movement of the plate. In order to reduce the likelihood ofany tampering with the plate, there is provided a recess 19 to receivethe forward end thereof, and the discharge passage is preferably soformed as to have considerable length. In order to facilitate themovement of the tokens from the compartment to the discharge passagewhen the plate is moved from beneath tokens in the compartment, theupper end of the passage is preferably formed wider than the lower endof the compartment. For instance, by disposing the upper end of the wall17 outwardly of the lower end of the wall 14, likelihood of the tokenscatching in their passage from the compartment to the discharge passage,is substantially eliminated. In the exemplified construction not only isthe edge at the top of the wall 17 disposed outwardly of the edge at thebottom of the wall 14, but also as a further precaution againstcatching, the upper edge of the wall 16 is disposed outwardly withrespect to the lower edge of the wall 13. While it is desirable that theupper end of the passageway be wider than the lower end of thecompartment, the essential point from the standpoint of preventingtampering is that a shoulder be provided beneath the end of the plate atthe side of the discharge passage.

In order to slide the plate from beneath tokens in the compartment,there is provided a rotary member such, for instance, as a toothedwheel, annular gear, a worm, etc., which meshes with rack means on theplate. In the present instance, the rotary member comprises a toothedwheel 20, the teeth of which fit into a series of openings 21 in theplate. The wheel is carried on a shaft 22 mounted in bearings 23 and 24within the enclosure, and carries, in the present instance, a coilspring 24, tending to hold the plate against the stop 18. The front wallmember 25 of the enclosure is formed with a key-receiving opening 26 andthe shaft is provided with keyreceiving means 27 of such nature as toprevent its operation by persons not possessing the proper key, as forinstance the key 28.

Although the exemplified mechanism is sturdy and of a type which shouldhave a long life, it is desirable in certain instances that the box beopened with comparative ease, if necessary. To this end the examplifiedenclosure is formed with a front wall 25 provided with lugs 29 arrangedto fit into openings 30 in one end of the enclosure, and secured byrivets 31 at the other end. These rivets may be formed by knocking downthe ends of a headless screw fitting into the threaded passageways inblocks 32 in the corners of the box. To remove the front wall it is onlynecessary to cut off the heads of the rivets; and to replace the frontwall it is only necessary to unscrew the screws and to replace them byother screws and knock down their outer ends.

If desired, the edge portions of the slot ll may be raised, as indicatedat 33, so as to prevent rain falling on the top of the box from runninginto the slot. This may be accomplished by bending over the edges of thetop of the box, by soldering a wire about the slot, or in any othersuitable manner.

The box is readily fastened to a wall, as by means of screws 34 inscrew-holes in its rear wall,

It will be understood that the construction shown may be modified in avariety of ways Without departing from the broader aspects of theinvention. For instance, there may be provided a construction such asshown in Fig. 4;, wherein one end 35 of the box proper serves as aside-wall for the compartment and discharge passage, and also provides arecess 19a and a stop 18a for the sliding plate 15a which is presseddirectly by a spring 37.

In some cases the bottom of the compartment may be provided by a platearranged to be released by other than a sliding movement and a varietyof other modifications may be made.

As will be understood, any of a wide variety of different types of keysmay be utilized to operate a mechanism such as is contemplated by theinvention, and the term key is utilized herein to describe any memberseparate from the mechanism which is carried by the person who is torelease the tokens and which is especially constructed to operate themechanism. One of the many other types of key and key-receiving meanswhich may be utilized is exemplified in Fig. 5. In this figure the keyis shown at 38, the shaft at 2212 and the key plates at 39.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above method and in theconstructions set forth, which embody the invention may be made withoutdeparting from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained inthe above description 01' shown in the accompanying drawing shall beinterpreted as illustrated and not in a limiting sense.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In a token container and releaser, means providing vertically-alignedupper and lower compartments having narrow token-passing slots in theirupper and lower walls respectively, a slidable plate normally separatingsaid compartments and providing a token-retaining bottom wall for theupper compartment, means providing a recess beyond one side of saidcompartments for receiving one end of said plate, resilient meanstending to hold said plate within said recess, the sides of said recessserving to prevent contact with the end of said plate by a tool insertedthrough either of said slots, and keyoperated means to move said plateout of said recess and from beneath tokens in said upper compartment topermit the same to drop into the lower compartment and out of the lowerslot.

2. In a token container and releaser, means providing vertically-alignedupper and lower compartments having narrow token-passing slots in theirupper and lower walls respectively, a slidable plate normally separatingsaid compartments and providing a token-retaining bottom wall for theupper compartment, means providing a recess beyond one side of saidcompartments for receiving one end of said plate, resilient meanstending to hold said plate within said recess, the sides of said recessserving to prevent contact with the end of said plate by a tool insertedthrough either of said slots, and keyoperated means to move said plateout of said recess and from beneath tokens in said upper compartment topermit the same to drop into the lower compartment and out of the lowerslot, said compartments being of sufiicient height with respect to theirwidth to substantially prevent the movement of said plate by theleverage of a blade inserted through either of said slots.

sides of said recess serving to prevent contact with the end of saidplate by a tool inserted through either of said slots, key-operatedmeans to move said plate out of said recess and from beneath tokens insaid upper compartment to permit the same to drop into the lowercompartment and out of the lower slot, and an enclosure for the saidwalls of said compartments and for the aforesaid means.

HOWARD E. WOLFE.

